Read the full judgment text of CACC 305/2009 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 23 February 2010 before Stock VP, Wright J.
Criminal law – drug trafficking – heroin – sentencing – leave to appeal sentence – Lau Tak-ming guidelines – Applicant, a 37-year-old Kenyan national, pleaded guilty to a single charge of trafficking 505.35 grammes of heroin hydrochloride on 30 June 2008, having arrived at Hong Kong International Airport from Nepal with the drugs concealed in a sock in her underwear – She was driven by recent childbirth in November 2008 and poverty, and agreed to carry the drugs for a reward of US$4,000 – The quantity fell within the fifth band of the guidelines in Lau Tak-ming and Ano [1990] 2 HKLRD 370, prescribing 15 to 20 years' imprisonment for 400 to 600 grammes of heroin – The sentencing judge adopted a starting point of 17.5 years and declined to grant any discount beyond the one-third reduction for the guilty plea, resulting in a final sentence of 11 years 8 months – Whether the sentence was manifestly excessive or wrong in principle – Held, no: the starting point was correct, the judge was entitled to refuse further mitigation, and the international element of the trafficking would in fact have justified a higher starting point – Application for leave to appeal dismissed – No merit in the application.
Legal issues: Whether the sentence of 11 years 8 months for trafficking 505.35 grammes of heroin was manifestly excessive or wrong in principle
Outcome: Application for leave to appeal against sentence dismissed; no merit in the application.
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